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Holocaust survivors learn more about their history

The Holocaust Memorial Museum was recently granted access to the International Tracing Service, which has a collection of more than two hundred million documents compiled by the Germans during World War II

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Updated: 2:00 PM CDT May 19, 2017

Holocaust survivors learn more about their history

The Holocaust Memorial Museum was recently granted access to the International Tracing Service, which has a collection of more than two hundred million documents compiled by the Germans during World War II

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Updated: 2:00 PM CDT May 19, 2017

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WEBVTT >> SOME OF THE PHOTOS GO BACKBEFORE THE WAR.ARI: SUZI POLIRER DOESN'T LOOKAT THESE PHOTOS VERY OFTEN, THEJUST TOO PAINFUL.PHOTO AFTER PHOTO OF RELATIVESSHE DOESN'T KNOW AND WILL NEVERMEET -- ALL VICTIMS OF THEHOLOCAUST.>> HE HAD A LOT OF BROTHERS ANDSISTER-IN-LAWS ANDBROTHER-IN-LAWS.NONE OF THESE PEOPLE HADSURVIVED.ARI: POLIRER'S MOTHER AND FATHERBOTH SURVIVED THE HOLOCAUST, ANDTHEY SHARED MANY STORIES OF WHATTHEY ENDURED.BUT THERE WAS SO MUCH THEYDIDN'T SAY, SO MUCH THEY NEVERKNEW, SO MUCH THEIR DAUGHTER ISNOW LEARNING.>> IT WAS VERY IMPORTANT FOR METO TRY TO LINK ALL THE STORIES.ARI: AND THAT IS WHERE ROBERTTANEN AND THE U.S. HOLOCAUSTMEMORIAL MUSEUM COME IN.>> YOU CAN SEE, THIS IS THEORIGINAL GERMAN.ARI: THE MUSEUM WAS RECENTLYGRANTED ACCESS TO I.T.S.INTERNATIONAL TRACING SERVICE,ABOUT 200 MILLION DOCUMENTSCOMPILED BY THE GERMANS DURINGWORLD WAR II.DOCUMENTS ABOUT PRISONERS,REFUGEES, VICTIMS, WHERE THEYWERE HELD AND WHERE THEY WEREKILLED.DOCUMENTS THAT WERE SEALED FORDECADES.BUT NOT ANYMORE.>> THESE DOCUMENTS HELP PAINT ASPECIFIC PICTURE ABOUTINDIVIDUALS THAT FAMILY MEMBERSAND LOVED ONES MAY HAVE NEVERKNOWN BEFORE.ARI: POLIRER REACHED OUT TO THEMUSEUM TO HELP HER TRACE HERFAMILY.>> THIS WAS HIS ENTRANCE CARD TODACHAU.ARI: THEY FOUND THE CARD THENAZIS FILLED OUT WHEN HER FATHERENTERED A CONCENTRATION CAMP.THIS IS HER MOTHER'S CARD FROM ADIFFERENT CAMP.JUST TWO OF THE DOZENS OFDOCUMENTS THE MUSEUM FOUND,PAINTING A PICTURE OF THEIRSURVIVAL OF THE HOLOCAUST.>> WHAT DAY HE ENTERED ONE CAMP,WHAT DAY HE LEFT THAT CAMP, WHATDAY HE WENT TO ANOTHER CAMP.ARI: SOME OF THE DOCUMENTS HAVEALSO SHED LIGHT ON WHAT HAPPENEDTO OTHER RELATIVES, LOVED ONESWHO DISAPPEARED.>> ONCE I GOT THOSE AND THEN ILOOKED BACK AT THE PICTURES ANDMADE THE CONNECTIONS, THEN ITWAS MUCH MORE EMOTIONAL.ARI: POLIRER HAS SO FAR RECEIVED10 DIFFERENT EMAILS OFDOCUMENTS.EACH DOCUMENT TELLS A STORY,FILLS IN A BLANK IN HER FAMILYHISTORY.THERE ARE STILL OTHER BLANKS TOBE FILLED, FOR HER AND MILLIONSOF OTHERS WHOSE RELATIVES DIEDIN THE HOLOCAUST.>> THESE DOCUMENTS WILL BE SORTOF A TESTAMENT TO WHAT HAPPENED.AND A TANGIBLE ELEMENT TO SAYTHAT YES, THIS TOOK PLACE.ARI: AND THE HOLOCAUST MUSEUWILL SEARCH I.T.S. FOR ANYONE.YOU CAN FILL OUT A FORM ONLINE.

Holocaust survivors learn more about their history

The Holocaust Memorial Museum was recently granted access to the International Tracing Service, which has a collection of more than two hundred million documents compiled by the Germans during World War II

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Updated: 2:00 PM CDT May 19, 2017

Suzi Polirer thumbs through dozens of black and white photos of relatives she never knew.

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"Some of the photos go back before the war," she said from her home in Boynton Beach.

Polirer said she doesn’t look at the photos very often. She said it’s just too painful.

It's not just that she never knew the relatives. It’s also that she doesn’t know what happened to them. They were all victims of the Holocaust.

"(My father) had a lot of brothers and sisters and sister-in-laws and brother-in-laws," she said. "None of these people had survived."

Both of Polirer's parents were Holocaust survivors.

Over the years, they shared with Polirer and her siblings many stories of what they endured.

Yet, there was so much they didn't say, so much they never knew.

Much of that information Polirer is now learning.

"It was very important for me to try to link all the stories," she said.

That’s why Polirer reached out to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The museum was recently granted access to ITS, International Tracing Service. ITS is about two hundred million documents compiled by the Germans during World War II, documents about prisoners, refugees, victims, and anybody else the Nazis had contact with.

The documents contained detailed information about those people, things like where they were held and where they were killed.

For generations, the documents were sealed by the German government.

Now, the museum has access to all of it.

"These documents help paint a specific picture about individuals that family members and loved ones may have never known before," said Robert Tanen, Associate Director of the Southeast Regional Office of the Holocaust Museum.

After she reached out to the museum, Polirer began receiving e-mails full of documents detailing her parents’ lives during the Holocaust.

The museum found her father's entrance card the Nazis filled out when he first arrived at Dachau, one of the concentration camps where he was held.

They also found her mother's entrance card from a different camp.

Those are just two of the two of the dozens of documents the museum found, telling a story of Polirer's parents survival.

"What day he entered one camp, what day he left that camp, what day he went to another camp," Polirer said.

Some of the documents she’s received also shed light on what happened to other relatives, loved ones who disappeared.

"Once I got those and then I looked back at the pictures and made the connections, it was much more emotional," Polirer said.

In all, Polirer has received ten e-mails of documents from the museum, each telling a story and filling in a blank in her family history.

There are still plenty of blanks left to be filled for Polirer and millions and millions of others whose relatives died in the Holocaust.

"These documents will be sort of a testament to what happened," Tanen said. “And a tangible element to say, ‘Yes, this took place.'"